Beetle Juiced
The Tamiya Sand Scorcher is one of the most sought after collectors items in all of the RC community. To some it is the holy grail of there collections. The one car that has seemed to increase in value to almost triple what they sold for new. Yet to be honest, they are not that tuff to find. Ebay is riddled with them every day. Yet they still bring upwards of $300.00 plus for a decent one. I find it odd that they bring so much yet are so easy to find. It seems you can still find parts for them as well. A whole slew of parts are listed both new and used on Ebay every day as well. I guess the appeal to these little buggies are mostly what lured me to want one. They are stunningly scale accurate. To look at this model from afar it is hard to tell if it a real car or not. Another big factor in why I wanted one so much is that they are all metal. ( Less the fiberglass chassis plate. ) I truly wanted to build an unforgettable looking Scorcher. The VW Baja body and the realistic suspension was to much to pass up on. I had to have one. I bought this one as a basket case. It was much cheaper that way. The chassis plate I decided to make out of aluminum and turn my Scorcher into an all metal masterpiece. Below are pics of the build up. from start to finish.
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This was a an incomplete find. I was missing allot of items from the original kit. The radio tub being the biggest part missing. I really didn't want it though so I guess you could say I had all I really needed. I bought a new Blitzer Beetle for the build and would use the nose off the Monster Beetle body in the first pic to shell up this build. What I really needed to find was a set of wheels and tires to set this beat off. While I searched for the wheels I would clean all the parts and start on the chassis plate.
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I bead blasted all the front end and rear transmission case parts. Everything cleaned up really well.
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I kinda liked this aftermarket skid plate that came with this buggy, but it was a little worse for wear. So I decided to make another one from aluminum.
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I then started on the chassis plate. I made it from sheet aluminum about .080 thick. I actually made three before I made one I felt was strong enough for the job.
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I cut a servo mount from some Delrin blocks I had in the scrap Bin in my shop. I aligned the servo in a way where it would give the best overall steering geometry and the mounts could still be used as an upper support mount. I also found the tires I wanted to use on this beast! at least for the rear anyway.
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The right wheels make the build! Hands down when I found these I knew I had the right Wheels for this project. They are a set of original Aluminum RCH wheels for the Sand Scorcher. It was a great find off Ebay. I got them for a good price as well. They are just what this project needed to move it in the direction it needs to go.
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I began working on the rear body mount for the Scorcher next. I decided to use the two body mount holes on the sides of the Blitzer Beetle body instead of converting it to the original Scorcher rear top mounts. As you can see in the previous pics I also trimmed the fenders on the body, cutting them down to look more like a modern day Baja bug. Once I have the body mounts and all how I want them I will trim off more of the rear body.
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I'm not happy with the rear of the body. I decided to cut the remaining portion of the deck lid off the body and bob the rear fenders some more. I have some ideas for the rear of this buggy. It will take some time to execute them though. I'll start with the rear body mod.
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